Citrus Brined Roasted Chicken

I know many of you out there have been dealing with cold temperatures and even snow for weeks but around here we just got our first cold snap of the year. Sunday felt like a "hole myself up in the house in an effort to keep warm" sort of day, perfect for roasting a chicken in the oven for a few hours. This was my first attempt at cooking any sort of large bird on my own so, in typical methodical German fashion, I made sure to do ample amounts of research first. I came away with the feeling that as long as I cooked the thing long enough I could be as creative as I wanted with the preparation and flavors. In other words, it would be difficult to screw it up.

Left with a lot of orange and lemons after making the Glühwein before Thanksgiving I figured this would be the perfect way to use some of them up. I found an intriguing-looking recipe for a citrus brine and while I'd never brined meat before either alone or with my mom I was ready to go whole hog with this bird. My chicken soaked for about two hours in a bath of chopped oranges, lemons, onion, garlic, black pepper, and thyme. And, of course, salt. Lots and lots of salt. I don't typically use much salt when cooking but, again, figured I'd follow protocol and poured the salt in.

Taking inspiration from a number of different recipes, after removing the chicken from its bath I rubbed a combination of butter, orange zest, thyme, pepper, and salt under the skin and in the cavity. For a little extra oomph I chopped up an orange and a lemon and stuffed the wedges inside the bird. I even took a stab at tying the poor thing up with string so the legs and wings wouldn't get overcooked and dry out. Not sure I did it properly but whatever I did seems to have worked.

I was also eager to try an orange glaze recipe from December's issue of Cooking Light. While the chicken was cooking, I juiced my remaining oranges, made a few adjustments to the recipe including adding some sugar, and cooked it down enough to make a thick sauce instead of a glaze. It was absolutely divine when drizzled onto the chicken. Heck, it was divine when I ate it with a spoon. No chicken required to make it delicious.

A few hours later I had a nice, juicy, flavorful bird to hack apart. I was picturing the scene from National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation when Clark cuts into the turkey only to find it's so overcooked that it bursts and deflates into a dry husk. Fortunately, mine didn't turn out like that at all. If anything it was too juicy, which I didn't mind but is something my husband complained about. Not sure if that's because of the brining or if I needed to cook it longer even though the meat was all thoroughly cooked. Oh well. You don't hear me complaining. It was a perfect end to a chilly weekend.

Citrus Brine
Recipe adapted from Allrecipes.com

1/2 cup salt
1 lemon, cut into wedges
1 orange, cut into wedges
1 medium onion, cut into wedges
3 cloves garlic
4 bay leaves
1 tablespoon dried thyme
1 tablespoon ground black pepper
Cold water

Rub salt onto your chicken and place remaining salt, lemons, oranges, onion, garlic, bay leaves, thyme and pepper into a large pot. Place the chicken in the pot and fill with enough water to cover. Refrigerate 1-2 hours. Discard brine after removing chicken.

Rub chicken with a combination of orange zest, salt, dried thyme, black pepper, and softened butter under the skin and inside the cavity. Chop an orange and a lemon into wedges and insert into the cavity. Truss the chicken and place on a roasting rack above a pan lined with aluminum foil (for easy cleanup). Bake in a preheated oven at 350 F, 20 minutes per pound plus an additional 15 minutes.

Orange Sauce
Recipe adapted from Cooking Light

1 1/2 cups freshly squeezed orange juice
2-3 thin slivers of chopped onion
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 cup brown sugar

Combine the ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Boil until reduced to a sauce-like consistency. Strain and serve over chicken.

Oreo Truffle Cupcakes

If you're ever in doubt as to what flavor of cupcakes to make for someone, you can't go wrong with cookies and cream. I've been taking them to parties and giving them as gifts for years and everyone's always raved about them. It seems to be the best all around flavor that pleases any crowd of any age. Now, I've always made a simple version from the tried-and-true 125 Best Cupcake Recipes by Julie Hasson, which is vanilla cake with crushed Oreos mixed in the batter, topped with a soft buttercream with more crushed Oreos. I never thought it was a formula that needed to be improved upon until last week when Inside BruCrew Life posted about her Oreo surprise cupcakes. Her version includes an Oreo cookie base and an Oreo truffle baked into each cupcake made from crushed Oreos and cream cheese. Simple but divine!

I'm not big on using cake mixes or canned frosting so I simply stole her Oreo concept and used a basic vanilla cupcake recipe and my usual cookies and cream frosting from 125 Best Cupcake Recipes. The cookie on the bottom remained crunchy and the truffle filling is a delicious surprise, moist and flavorful and utterly unexpected. I highly recommend these and plan to give some as gifts this Christmas. My only complaint is that the frosting is impossible to pipe because of the cookie chunks, which means I have to go for the more rustic look of spreading it on with a knife. Not as presentable as perfectly piped frosting but just as delicious.

Oreo Truffle Filling
Recipe from Inside BruCrew Life

11 Oreo cookies, finely crushed
2 ounces cream cheese, softened

Blend crushed Oreos and cream cheese until fully mixed. Shape into 1" balls, place on a baking sheet, and refrigerate while making the batter.

Vanilla Cupcakes
Recipe adapted from 125 Best Cupcake Recipes by Julie Hasson

6 Oreo cookies
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup milk

1) Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a muffin pan with 12 paper liners. Cut Oreo cookies in half and place one half in the bottom of each liner, frosting side up, as seen here.
2) In a small bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, and salt.
3) In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat together sugar and butter until well combined. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Alternately beat in flour mixture and milk, making three additions of flour mixture and two of milk, beating until smooth.
4) Fill cupcake liners 1/3 full with batter. Place an Oreo truffle in the center of each and top with more batter until 2/3 full. Bake in preheated oven for 23-26 minutes or until tops of cupcakes spring back when lightly touched. Cool in pan on rack for ten minutes, then remove from pan and cool completely on rack.

Cookies and Cream Buttercream
Recipe from 125 Best Cupcake Recipes by Julie Hasson

1 1/3 cups confectioner's sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
Pinch of salt
1/3 cup whipping cream, at room temperature
1/2 tsp vanilla
4 Oreo cookies, broken into pieces

1) In a small bowl, using an electric mixer on low speed, beat together sugar, butter, and salt until well combined. Increase speed to high, beating until light and fluffy. Add cream and vanilla, beating until frosting is smooth. Add broken cookies, beating until mixed.
2) Spread frosting onto cooled cupcakes with a knife or spatula. Garnish with extra Oreo cookies if you haven't already eaten the rest of the package while waiting for the cupcakes to cool.

A Photo A Day [97 - 99]

Bought this ornament in London last year. A bit of a splurge but it's become one of my favorites on our tree.

Day 98 - Theme: Vivid

Finally got our Christmas tree up. The other decorations? Not so much. And yes, it snows inside our house. We saved a lot by buying one without a roof.

Day 99 - Theme: Vivid

Wish I had a macro lens for this week's theme, up close. I'd considered asking Santa for one but it seems a bit pricey even for him.

Day 99 - Theme: Up Close

A Photo A Day [95 & 96]

I should warn you right off the bat that if you're the squeamish type you may want to skip today's post. I'm including a picture of the nastiest of my husband's bruises from his fall. I've got a pretty strong stomach but even I was a little shocked when I spotted it yesterday.

But first I'll begin with a soothing photograph to lull you into a false sense of security. I spotted this bright little rosebud clinging to life in my garden. It's a miracle the roses that came with the house are still alive in the best of weather, let alone now that temps drop to freezing at night.

Day 95

And now for the moment you've all been waiting for. Ta da!

Day 96

Yes, it really is that color.

"Pain -- has an Element of Blank --
It cannot recollect
When it begun -- or if there were
A time when it was not --"
-Emily Dickinson

This week's theme: vivid

A Photo A Day [92-94]

This week's theme is vivid, chosen in order to combat the winter blahs.

Day 92

Day 93

Today I departed from the theme so I can share with you the touching story of how I almost killed my husband on Monday. We have a trap door to our basement, seen below, and after a fuse blew I went to the basement to fix it. As usual, our headstrong cat followed me down there and refused to come back up when I called. My husband usually shuts the door on her but I felt bad after we'd been away from her for a week so I left it open. I mentioned it to my husband but by the time he went downstairs (without turning the light on, I should mention) he'd clearly forgotten. This is evidenced by the fact that he stepped right into the open chasm in the floor, fell about eight feet straight down with a little aid from the steep wooden stairs, and squashed flat a bag of Christmas wine glasses I'd had sitting at the bottom of the stairs. The doctor says he's lucky he didn't die, which is just what any wife loves to hear. Aside from some nasty bruises, scrapes and cuts, and some shoulder pain he's more or less OK. Needless to say, when I went downstairs this evening I shut the door even though the cat was, once again, refusing to come upstairs.

This is only about 2/3 of the staircase

Day 94

Thanksgiving Travels

A church somewhere near Mt. Jackson, VA. Amazingly, this photo was taken through the window of a moving car.

My husband and I spent the last week traveling around Virginia and northern North Carolina visiting family, delivering cupcakes to deserving family members, and taking silly pictures. We were both long overdue for a break from work and our normal routine so what better excuse than Thanksgiving to take a few extra days off to roam? Unlike most people I actually enjoy being around my family and the in-laws so that portion of the trip wasn't a hardship. It probably helps that we spent just the right amount of time with each before moving on to our next stop.

I'm all about tradition so I was glad we were able to stop and spend a few days with my mom and little brother at the time share we've been going to since I was a kid. While I'd say most time shares are a rip off and the maintenance cost my mom still has to pay for this one is absurdly high, it's situated in Virginia's picturesque Shenandoah Valley and I've got so many good memories associated with going there with my family. If nothing else it's a perfect excuse for my mom to relax, which is a big change from her normal life of rushing around trying to do a million things a day. For that reason alone I'd say it's worth the cost.

Found at a Goodwill in Woodstock, VA. Note the similarities. I nearly got confused and took the troll home with me instead of my husband.

The tall fella is Johnny Appleseed, taken outside of a Johnny Appleseed-themed restaurant in New Market, VA. Yes, he is wearing a pot on his head. I hear that's all the rage these days.

One of the few covered bridges left in VA. Do you have any idea how difficult it is to get the exposure right when taking pictures of these things?

A better shot of the covered bridge, blurry mother included.

My zombie brother

While similar to the last pic I like how skinny this makes me look so I'm posting it too.

After two days with my family we hopped over the VA border to visit my in-laws in North Carolina. Here we are with my super cute niece who adores me for some inexplicable reason.


I found she'd written this on her desk in anticipation of our arrival. How sweet is that?

Eden, NC decked out for the holidays. At least I'm pretty sure it's Eden. Don't sue me if I'm wrong on that one.

Ominous cloud that massed over us around Greensboro, NC. I'm sure it's because my husband said something blasphemous.

After lunch with my aunt and uncle who live close to my in-laws, we headed to Roanoke, VA for a few days. I honestly wasn't planning to go to any cupcakeries after having baked and delivered three dozen cupcakes of my own on that trip but we just so happened to stop for dinner at a restaurant right next door to Bubblecakes. How could I resist the alluring sign advertising, "We have cupcakes" and the charming decor?



I was, however, able to resist this deal. Is this even legal?



One our way back we stopped at a cheesy roadside attraction, Dinosaur Land, in northwestern Virginia. A friend had visited a few months ago and it looked like goofy fun, so I bookmarked it just in case we were ever in the area. Turns our our route home took us within ten minutes of it. Even though I was eager to get home to the cats I begged my husband to make the detour and I'm so glad I did. While I wouldn't recommend going far out of your way just to visit the site, it's definitely worth stopping in if you're nearby. Honestly, we were out of there in about 20 minutes although it did make for some good photo ops.














Even though I'm nearly a week late I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and are now gearing up for an even better Christmas!

Catching Up On A Photo A Day

Because of my week-long Thanksgiving trip with limited internet access I'm way behind on posting my photo a day entries here on my blog. Prepare yourself for a week's worth of photos all in one fell swoop. Some are better than others but overall I'm pleased with some of the shots I took while on vacation. It was nice to get out of the house and out of NJ to take some pictures that are a little different from my usual.

The first photo is a straggler from the glass-themed week but for the rest the theme was "texture." Because I was in rural Virginia I was able to find a lot of inspiration simply by looking outside at the beautiful landscape and old buildings.

Day 83 - Theme: Glass

"It is said that your life flashes before your eyes just before you die. That is true, it's called Life." -Terry Pratchett

Days 85-91 - Theme: Texture